Dominion Family

I have spent the day reading many of the Ambleside Online conference reports. This did prompt me to take a nature hike with the children. The Circe Conference was also last weekend at Stetson University and the Classed girls have been reporting on that. Since I am knee-deep in final preparations for our Aug 15 start date these reports have been inspiring.

The word of choice from the Circe Conference was “contemplation.”
We don’t want to keep ourselves and our children so busy that we don’t have time for contemplation. One point that hit home with me was that someone mentioned that catechising your children is not nearly as effective as giving them stories. That is not to say don’t catechise but don’t expect the knowledge of truth to penetrate the heart through the catechism.

Donna C of the Ambleside list has written up a detailed report of her weekend in TX. I am inspired just reading it. Other Ambleside blogs:

http://rusticanda.blogspot.com/
http://heartkeepercommonroom.blogspot.com/
http://libertyandlily.blogspot.com/
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/bwktbarr/12105/

Do something today to contemplate the joys God has given you, especially in your children.

NEW LINK with pictures:
Ambleside Conference Pictorial

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We are down to 1 1/2 weeks to go until we start school. This time of year I always start to panic. I seem so busy all summer without school, how will I ever squeeze in our school schedule? Somehow every year it works. Even now I am looking over my summer reading goals and feeling let down. With a week and half to go I can only hope to finish 1-2 more books at the most. I had hoped to reread a few CM books this summer but the only education book I have read is Norms and Nobility. Still, I have been reading more to the children and doing some fun things like nature walks. I have also planned out the 3 older students schedule through November. My Morning Time planning is pretty easy since we just do the next thing.

Our composer for the 1st term will be Beethoven per se the Ambleside list but we will skip Michelangelo this term and do the Hudson River Valley artists which we missed earlier.

Here is a sample schedule. The schedule reflects some planning but mostly an acknowledgement of how our days turn out. The older boys follow their own schedule after attending the morning meeting. This is the plan but it will never happen exactly like this. Some days Morning Time will take too long and I will cancel a few things. The reason we finish so late is that we do take breaks for laundry, chores, life & play. We usually average 5 hours of school time on a good day, 45 minutes of play counted. Do not read this schedule as 7:30-4:00 School. The word schedule is like the word diet. We all have a diet and we all have a schedule. This is just a picture of what our days usually look like. Getting up early is about the only real tip that I can give anyone. It makes all the difference.

5:30 Awake
6:00 Bible reading
6:30 Breakfast
7:00 Clean-up
7:30 Math
8:30 Morning Meeting
9:00 Morning Time
10:00 Latin/Greek Alt (Spanish)
10:30 Language Arts (Spelling Monday, Grammar Tuesday, Handwriting Wed, etc)
11:00 Phonics with Andrew & Alex
12:00 Lunch
12:30 Clean-up/baseball/tennisball/basketball
1:00 Recorder (Andrew, Emily, Alex)
1:30 Science /nature walk
2:00 Ambleside: Andrew & Alex (Reading all)
3:00 Reading
4:00 Play
5:00 Supper
5:30 Clean-up
6:00 Evening activities

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I guess you could say my blog is escapist for me. I mean if it really reflected what was being talked about in our home it would be full of Braves, Reds, Rafael Palmiero, Manny-Be-Manny, Andruw Jones, Fantasy stats, Tennis ball ( family-made game) results and country music. As you can imagine my life can get pretty boring sometimes. And sometimes I look at someone asking me if I heard what Andruw hit today and I say, “Yes, please don’t tell me again.”

I suppose arguing baseball stats every morning is great logic training and only natural in a houseful of testosterone. But no one can really blame me if I find solace in blogging even though I really think blogging is a inane pastime and if I didn’t do it myself I would consider it the height of silliness. Still it is not nearly as mind-numbing as listening to Manny Ramirez speak. Or for some real excitement Google the guy and read the quotes. Now that’s more fun than a barrel of blogs.

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I have a tendency to speak in quotes and rhymes so please forgive my title and No, I will not give you a bar of soap if you catch the reference.

So what did you wear this morning? Did you know ahead of time exactly what you would put on or did you agonize over the decision? Did you dress up or down? Did anyone notice what you were wearing? Did you consider others or just yourself?

Last week I listened in on an email discussion on how we should dress for church. At first glance it didn’t seem like a big deal but by the time everyone jumped in I realized we all had different ideas about what dressing for church meant.

Right out of the starting gate someone said, “You should dress as if you were going to see the King,” quoting RC Sproul Jr, I think. Sounds easy enough. But for some people dressing up means….way up and for some people dressing up means clean and neat. There are so many issues that escape the box at this point the subject quickly deteriorates into pandemonium.

But you don’t have to live in a box to know that something is wrong with the way we dress for church. For many, homeschooling moms included, dressing up means the skirt hem moves up the most. For many clean, neat and stylish quickly becomes vanity fair. The one-income family is now faced with the dreaded fear of becoming a stereotype. What to wear? What to wear?

I have a little confession to make. I wore a jumper. A jumper to church. A jumper to church in the morning.

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Once again, if you are looking for homeschool recordkeeping software, look no further. The Gentile family has once again made terrific updates free to those who have purchased the Plus version. They are available daily on the discussion group, too. It just doesn’t get any better. I have been given 2 free major updates since my one-time purchase 2 years ago.

Homeschool Tracker by TGHomeSoft

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Anyone else think the newest ETC should be called, “He Who Has Beards To Hear?”
For some reason, the ear sorta gets lost in all that hair. I do want to give them credit for getting out the issues on time lately.

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I wasn’t a fan of Peter Jennings, but I was amazed to read that he had never finished highschool. He was a self-educated man. With 80% of young people now going to college I am afraid the idea that education is something you give to yourself instead of something done to you is fading quickly.

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This hasn’t really been a very good week. I have been putting on the finishing touches for the year and I am quite sure I have planned too much. This always discourages me but I have planned too much for at least 15 years now. I really prefer to be serendipitous but with 7 students we get more accomplished with a plan.

I also get discouraged looking at all the books on the bookshelves and having a secret fear we may never read them all. Then I do something silly like go to the library or visit Bookcloseouts.

Homeschooling doesn’t always lead to wonderful stories of success. You know the ending, “And they were happily accepted into Patrick Henry on a full scholarship after receiving a perfect 1600 on their SAT.” My son almost missed getting the job as a policeman in Ft Lauderdale because I had printed out his transcript off my own computer. The police department accepted the cover school transcript but not my own. Ouch. But at least he doesn’t have to take the GED and his employment package is on its way to the chief’s desk for approval.

Did I mention I have some sort of virus?

Well, every dark cloud has a silver lining. I spelled serendipitous right the first time unless the spell check doesn’t know that word.

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Even Idahoans* know that Alabama is a better place !!

Which reminds me, anyone out there heard Van Zant’s new song? They still do a better job than Neil Young at pointing to the good book, Doug.

BLOG and MABLOG

*Is that a word? It has bling, doesn’t it? Can you tell I have either been in bed all day reading about John Adams or venturing to the computer to play Tetris. That is how a vicious virus affects me.

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I have mentioned the Alexians before. Here is Chris Alexian’s new blog. With articles published on Lew Rockwell and SAT scores that make my boys cry, “mercy,” Chris and his brother Anthony are truly up and coming thinkers, cut from a mold no public school could hope to imitate.

Welcome to the Fallout - Christian Thinking in an Irrational Age

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